Danny Aiello Quotes

Manufacturing and other unskilled professions that were union jobs, that allowed people to live a middle-class life, are disappearing both because unions are disappearing and because of the global nature of the economy.

Free trade is killing the labor movement.

We were no experts in the field of labor organization, but we had something in common with our fellow workers -- we were all poor -- we were all overworked -- we were all victims of the 84 hour week. In fact, we were all so low down on the economic and social ladder that we had nowhere to go but up

The ongoing internationalization of the economy is confronting the labor movement

We are now paying the cost of people who move jobs overseas as taxpayers, and people are appalled when they hear that.

While unions did not play a part in my family life when I was being brought up, my early years were most certainly spent in a working-class community.

The bottom line is there are lots of problems that were not created by government. The biggest one is loss of middle class incomes, loss of good-paying jobs which was created by technology and globalization. Above all, when you can move a job to China or India, it reduces wages.

Well, we see an increasingly weaker labor movement as a result of the overall assault on the labor movement and as a result of the globalization of capital.

American families be warned, if the White House doesn't send your jobs overseas, they'll send your kids.

What's going on in this country? Unions stand against those trends. We've got to somehow insulate the robust American economy from this global economy that seems to want to devour our standard of living.

That's what unions do. They can get money, they can get support, they can get manpower.

There are people walking around the streets of Kansas City who are unemployed, while one of our largest employers is not only sending jobs aboard, but then turning around and making a statement about preserving jobs.

The Bush Administration and the Congress have to stop ignoring this crisis in international trade. The longer we ignore it, the more American jobs will move overseas. It's just that simple.

I think you'll see if you look at 'Up', we've focused a lot on labor (and the forces trying to keep labor down) and have featured everything from Wal Mart workers, to on-the-ground organizers, to union presidents to restaurant workers sitting at the table sharing their experience and expertise.

I'm from a working-class background, and I've experienced that worry of not having a job next week because the unions are going on strike.

One of the great dilemmas for America will be that American companies will do very well while American workers might not.

There is nothing that says unions have a God-given right to be there. We have to work at it and make ourselves relevant to every section of the workforce.

Trade unionism is not a discovery or a formula. It grew and evolved slowly out of the needs of human experience.

Power? Nine workers out of ten still unorganized, and union dues going to bribe middle class politicians. You call that power?

We need unions to make sure that working people have a legitimate and consistent voice.

The data on worker displacement after NAFTA reads like a funeral program for the middle class.

Labor unions have already inflicted an evil on this country which they could never entirely repair.

There are about 8 million negroes in the United States, and, my friends, I not only have not the power to put the negro out of the labor movement, but I would not, even if I did have the power. Why should I do such a thing? I would have nothing to gain, but the movement would have much to lose. Under our policies and principles we seek to build up the labor movement, instead of injuring it, and we want all the negroes we can possibly get who will join hands with organized labor.

Most Republicans and the business community extol the virtues of trade, depicting it as an engine of economic progress, while most Democrats and unions attack the exportation of American jobs, claiming that trade agreements are destroying our economy.

I think there's a big difference between the impact of trade agreements on corporate America and the impact on Mr. and Mrs. America. Corporate America has adjusted to them by investing lots of capital offshore... What we're doing is we're exporting jobs and importing products instead of exporting products and keeping jobs.